September 14, 2025: Spider Webs in the Morning Dew

We had a series of cool nights this week with each night falling well into the 40s.  One cool morning, with everything drenched in condensed water, I found an extraordinary array of spider webs adorned by the dew that formed overnight.  These webs are probably there every morning, they just aren't so visible.  I enjoyed examining the different form and structure and site of each spider's web.  The variety of approaches each species takes to catch food is its own lesson in evolution.  First off, the classic spiderweb of an orb weaver:

The well-planned geometric web of an orb weaver.

This orb weaver built its nest in a small tree at the edge of a field filled with much different spider webs.

A recently mowed field full of spider webs.

These were nothing like the carefully planned and constructed web of the orb weaver, but rather a seemingly random, dense network of threads designed to capture the smallest of insects in the grass.

Thick webs built low down in grass.

This one has a tall spire attached.

Does the tall web perform a particular function in relation to the thick web below?  

This next similar web was also in the grassy field, but built on a tall flower stalk, giving it yet different properties.

This could be the same species with a different idea on how to catch breakfast, or a completely different species.

In yet another location, deep in a mature forest, were more dense webs, but these were built high up in tree branches.

Spider silk is made primarily of protein, and spiders create unique types of silk for different uses with each type formed by a different gland in their body.  The strong silk that forms the frame of a web is called dragline silk.  This silk, which isn't sticky so the spider can walk on it, is stronger by weight than nylon and even Kevlar.  [REF:  Römer L, Scheibel T. The elaborate structure of spider silk: structure and function of a natural high performance fiber. ]  A spider fills in the web structure with a sticky silk called capture silk.  There are yet other silks that are used for preserving captured prey, wrapping eggs, and even a light silk used as a balloon to travel long distances on the wind.  

The spider's ability to create such useful material made me think that we humans have evolved with the ability to create incredible things with our brains and hands, but there's really nothing useful we create using just our bodies like a spider does.  There's a whole world of science that studies spiders and their silk.  See the above reference for a glimpse into that world.

The colder nights makes me think about how the next couple of months are critical times for animals bulking up on food stores, either to get through winter hibernation or for a long migration to the south; for some animals this continues through November.  As noted last week, many food sources are ripening now, just in time for this feeding frenzy, including berries, mushrooms, and seeds from plants large (oak and beech trees) and small (milkweed and asters).  Hobblebush viburnum are highly visible with their red and black berries growing in large clumps on chest-high shrubs.

Hobblebush Viburnum

Old neglected apple trees are ripening their fruit for animals like deer, bear, fox and coyote, all of which will eat them right from the tree or after they've fallen on the ground.  Black cherry trees likewise are maturing their fruit as our young robin from last week knows.

Black Cherry

Black cherries are mostly pit with little flesh; the flesh is edible by humans, though the pits, which produce a cyanogenic glycoside, are not. [REF: https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_prse2.pdf]  Birds consume the flesh but not the seeds, which they distribute widely after they pass through their digestive systems.  Rodents on the other hand will eat the flesh, but they also can crack open the pits to eat, or store the pits in their winter caches.  Bears and foxes are like the birds in that they eat cherries only for the flesh, and then plant the pits wherever they leave their scat.  

Other fall berries I seen now are Winterberry, False Solomon's Seal, and Bunchberry.

False Soloman's Seal

Bunchberry

I'm told the Summer mechanic team at a particular ski area has their own name for bunchberries: "Oh Shoot berries" (or something similar to that ;-)  The name derives from the fact that when these berries turn red, it means, oh shoot, we only have a couple of weeks left to finish all our summer maintenance before the snow flies!

I've seen a few garter snakes around lately.  In preparation of their winter hibernation, they're probably feasting on the many small frogs that have been hopping all over the place this summer. 

Common Garter Snake

It's amazing how large a frog a small snake can swallow whole.

We were in mid-coast Maine for most of this week so I wasn't able to check on the loons.  I spent a lot of time along marshes and estuaries where I saw the usual shorebirds including pipers, plovers, eagles, and osprey, but only one new bird, a Killdeer.  I first heard it at night as they were calling while hunting beneath a bright full moon illuminating the estuary all week.  It was unusual to hear something other than loons or owls at night.  For those who love Maine as much as we do, here are a few familiar sights from the Wiscasset Area.

Chewonki Estuary on Montsweag Brook.

Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde

Burnt Island Light in Southport

June 1, 2025: Spiny Water Flea

Hello June!  We're now enjoying the longest daylight hours of the year, and this week we had some beautiful days to soak in all that sunshine.

On one paddle around the lake I noticed how the water lilies had adapted to the high water levels.  

Yellow Pond Lilies with long stems.

They had to grow long stems to keep their leaves above water and gather the sunlight that gives them life, and now with the water dropping they're dangling on long tethers that funnel the food they create down to their roots.  A few days later they had blossomed.

With the water level just about back to normal we can expect the loons to be seeking nesting sites; the territorial battles seem to have settled down, though not stopped.  On Friday I had a pretty good hint that they are in search of nesting sites when a loon popped up right next to my kayak, between me and the shore.

A close encounter with a loon in protective mode.

It then dove and swam right underneath me, surfacing on the other side, luring me away from shore.  

I'll bet its mate was at the shoreline evaluating a potential nest site; I didn't go looking, but rather continued quickly on my way.  It may be a little later than the ideal nesting period but there's still plenty of time to nest and raise chicks.  The biggest concern would be a heat wave in June or early July when they are sitting on their eggs.  

I love the different shades of green in the forest as the leaves on the deciduous trees fully develop the chlorophyll that the gives them their deep green color.  

It makes it easy to differentiate between evergreen and deciduous trees.

The view from above at Crockett's Ledge.

Soon their leaves will match the hue of evergreens that keep their through the winter.

I received a report from people fishing in Winnipesaukee and Squam that the Spiny Water Flea, a small, invasive crustacean, has grown to high population levels in both lakes.  

Spiny Water Flea shown on a pencil eraser.  Photo from NH Fish and Game.

This animal poses no health concerns to humans, but it is a problem for native animals as it alters the food web, and its sharp body parts can damage the internal organs of fish.  By feeding on native zooplankton, it can reduce the amount of plankton that consumes algae, leading to larger algal blooms.  The flea also causes problems with fishing lines.

Clogging up a fishing line.  Photo by Jeff Gunderson.

The spiny water flea is native to Asia and Europe and was brought to America by cargo ships, first found in the Great Lakes in the 1980s and making their way to Vermont by 2013.  It was found in both Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam in 2023.  Although NH laws requiring draining and drying boats between different water bodies will help slow its spread, it will undoubtedly find its way to all the lakes over time.  

One advantage Lake Wicwas has is its smaller size and high nutritive value.  According to NH DES the flea "seems to prefer the open water areas of large, low-nutrient lakes".  [Ref:  NH DES Environmental Fact Sheet NN-68]  Of course, the high nutrient content of Wicwas supports other problems such as increased vegetation growth of both native and invasive aquatic plants.  It also provides a good foundation for cyanobacteria blooms.

In other water quality news, we've already had a minor outbreak of cyanobacteria in Wicwas; I found it in many locations around the lake this week. 

Cyanobacteria along the west shore of Lake Wicwas.

NH DES tested a water sample and found a concentration of 25,900 cells/liter which is below the threshold level of 70,000, but it's still wise to be vigilant when you swim and to not let pets drink the water.  Keep an eye out for bright green flecks suspended in the water column, sometimes described as looking like a snow globe. 

Cyanobacteria suspended in the water.  Pollen doesn't typically do that.

As a cyanobacteria bloom expands it may rise to surface as a green scum, and then sink to the bottom of the lake.

New wildflowers sprouted this week.  Watch for the common four-petaled white Bunchberry and Pointed Blue-eyed Grass.  

Pointed Blue-eyed Grass.

I'll end with the end - the end of a beautiful day on Lake Wicwas.

June 12, 2022: Lupine Time

We did get up to Sugar Hill this week and the lupines are putting on a fine show this year.

Lupine (Lupinus perennis)

So fine in fact that a painting class was taking place in the upper field where Cannon Mountain and the Lafayette Range set the background for the artists.

I think the lower field was the most spectacular I've ever seen it, awash in deep blue and purple with the occasional burst of pink or white sprinkled here and there.

It's always worth the drive up through Franconia Notch in Lupine season, but I also found mountain color closer to home.  On a hike to Mt. Shaw in the Ossipee Range I found several flowers in bloom including lady's slippers around 2000' elevation.  But the most interesting find was a plant that grows in dry, acidic soils as found in rocky granite outcroppings at high elevations.

Cinquefoil

I think this is three-toothed cinqufoil growing in the cracks and crevises in the granite which helps to break down the rock over time.

Granite ledges in the Ossipee Range with Lake Winnipesaukee and the Belknap Mountains in the background.

  Other flowers seen along the trail included bunchberry and bluebead lily.

Bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis)

Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

Later this summer bunchberry will have many small red berries while bluebead lily will have large - you guessed it - blue berries.

I also came across a towering birch tree right beside the High Range Trail which New Hampshire forester Dan Stepanauskas identified for me as yellow birch and estimated it at over 250 years old. 

An ancient yellow birch in the Ossipee Mountains

The mountains aren't claiming all the beauty though, as there is plenty to be found down at lake level.

Larger blue flag (Iris versicolor)

These wild irises grow in marshes and wet shorelines all around lake.  

One more lake flower I'll share is this wild cranberry viburnum I found growing on Sheep Island:

Cranberry Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) also called highbush cranberry

I'll end with an update on the loon picture which remains fluid.  As far as I can tell the banded pair is still tending to a nest though I often see both loons together far away from the nest.  Band sightings indicate it is the nesting pair.  But I also believe a second pair of loons is working on a nest in another part of the lake.  I've seen two loons near the island where a pair successfully raised a chick ("Justin Time") in 2018.  One loon observer has seen them bringing nesting materials from the bottom of the lake to the island, and one day when I was near the island a loon popped up right next to my kayak, acting as a decoy to draw me away from the island, which I immediately did, but still managed to get perhaps the closest look at a loon I've ever had.

There have been reports of a possible fifth loon on the lake.  It could be an interesting summer.

June 21, 2020: Summer Flowers are Here

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! 

The summer heat arrived just in time for Father's Day, and the summer flowers are loving it; they're expressing themselves with brilliant colors from all corners of the spectrum.  I will let them speak for themselves.

Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum)

And the yellow variety (Hieracium caespitosum)

Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on Linda's Lobelia (not wild)

Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

Daises and Lupines

Oxeye Daisey (Leucanthemum vulgare)

Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)

 

Not wild, but pretty

Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia)

Lupine (Lupinus)

With a customer

Mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)

I'll mention one concern about the heat:  the loons.  The Bryant Island nest is completely exposed to the sun all day long, and with clear, hot days one after another the loons have had no relief for days on end.  On top of that, with yesterday being the solstice, there's 15 and half hours of sun beating on them each day. The Harris Cove nest has a much better site with a good covering of bushes, but even they must be suffering.   It will be a remarkable parenting effort if either pair can keep their eggs cool enough to be viable.  We'll know in a couple more weeks.  

Until then, dads, granddads, and everyone, know that we are thinking of you even if we can't be with you, and take the time to smell the flowers.